KickStartHer

THANK YOU FRIENDS FOR HELPING ME REACH AND SURPASS MY GOAL! I DON'T HAVE THE WORDS TO EXPRESS THE DEEP MEANING AND LIFE-CHANGING IMPACT OF YOUR SUPPORT.

I have re-opened KickStartHer becuase several people have asked if they can still make donations. It will now run until I leave for Thailand (Hoepfully in November). There are many more costs than the ones I outlined below, including medication and electorlysis, so any and all donations are still incredibly helpful.

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My name is Shakina, I have been out as transgender since 2001, but only decided to undergo a complete medical transition (gender confirmation surgery) toward the end of 2012. There is really no way I can complete this process without the help of friends, so I decided to launch this campaign to raise the the money I need to finish my transition. I want to go to The Suporn clinic in Thailand for my surgery because Dr. Suporn has pioneered a completely different procedure for Male-to-Female sexual reassignment.

Updates

07/15/2014

by
Shakina

Hello Friends!

Thank you again for your tremendous show of support. Sorry for being MIA on the follow up, I just sort of let KickStartHer fall off the radar after the goal was reached. It was a hugely emotional victory and I've been taking the past month to contemplate the meaning behind it, not only what it means for my future, but also what it meant for everyone who became a part of what felt, for a moment, like a movement.

There were a lot of incredible circumstances surrounding the end of the campaign. I had chosen May 31st as a deadline so I would have 6 months to plan my trip to Thailand, which I was thinking would take place in November. When KickStartHer got down to the wire on the last day I was still several thousand dollars away from my goal. YouCaring is not like other crowd funding sights; whatever is donated goes to the benefactor, regardless of whether or not the ultimate goal is met. On the 31st I still had quite distance to cover. I just tried to focus my energy on being grateful for the support already pledged, which had put me far closer to my dreams than I ever could have gotten on my own.

Then something amazing happened. I went online to check the status at about 10pm on the last night, and for some reason YouCaring had given me until 8pm the next day to complete the campaign. It was like some sort of unexpected grace period. And by grace period I truly mean a kind of divine intervention, because what followed was the most unbelievable outpouring of love and unmerited favor from my friends, family, friends of friends, and even strangers. It felt like God had given me one more shot, and with that small window of time and a renewed sense of possibility an entire community of friends past, present, and future mobilized to help me soar past the mark.

The most moving aspect was the sentiment that seemed to echo through the whole thing. There was a moment on June 1st in the late afternoon when I checked my Facebook timeline and literally every post was about KickStartHer. Not my profile, my timeline. Like, what other people were posting about. I scrolled down the page and it was post after post of friends sharing the KickStartHer link, and there was this common thread in the description. I'll paraphrase, but it was something like this: "Shakina helps other people make their dreams come true, let's make this dream come true for her."

Seeing that message reflected by so many different people was honestly a greater gift than any sum of money could ever be.

In ONE WOMAN SHOW I talk about the ever-present issue of pronouns in the lives of trans people and those around them, and I break it down like this: "When you meet someone you have a basic decision to make: 'Am i going to agree with this person's dream of themselves, affirm it, and reflect it back to them? Or am I going to challenge their dream, or worse, ignore it?'"

I continue in the show by saying, "Well, I live to affirm people's dreams."

And it's true, I do. And even though I say it in my show, it's not something I feel the need to broadcast regularly, it's just sort of a life practice, a modus operandi, because why not? Dream affirmation is very fulfilling for the soul. But when I looked on facebook and saw all these messages my heart nearly exploded. Because you always hope that people will see and interpret what you're putting out into the word the way you intend for it to be seen and interpreted, but you rarely get that kind of feedback, you know, that it's working.

So thank you. A thousand times thank you. For recognizing me, for honoring me with your generosity and humbling me with your support and encouragement.

Plans have been in the works for a while, and now, as the ones who made it happen, I want you to be the first to know when it's all going down.

On September 5th, a little less than 8 weeks from now, I will fly out to Thailand. I'll be spending my first week there living on the grounds of a Buddhist temple off the eastern gulf, volunteering for a wildlife rescue program that works to reintroduce abused and exploited elephants to the wild without severing their relationship with their long-term care givers. I want the last of my male bodied actions to be directed at offering compassion to the largest mammals on land. It feels poetic and right. From there I will spend a few days in and around Bangkok, hopefully taking a couple Thai massage classes, preparing for surgery with the cultivation and exchange of healing touch. On Sept. 19th I will check in at the Suporn Clinic in Chonburi, and on Monday, September 22nd, my life will change forever.

I'll be spending almost 4 weeks there afterwards, for the initial recovery; one week in the hospital and 19 more days at a hotel next door to the clinic, where the nursing staff visits multiple times a day and will arrange for me to visit nearby temples and tourist sites once I'm able to get up and around.

I'll return to New York a newly self-realized being on October 20th.

If you're in New York City, or would like to be, I plan on having an epic send off party on Thursday, September 4th at the Musical Theatre Factory (another dream I'm in the middle of making real). Please come, or trust that you'll be there in spirit and that I'll carry you with me to Thailand in my heart, and bring you back home in my vagina.

With eternal love and appreciation for all that you are,

Shakina

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04/17/2014

by
Shakina

Bg news for KickStartHer!

Dear Friends,

when I first launched KickStartHer I set out to raise money for a series of gender confirmation surgeries, which included sexual reassignment (the vaginoplasty) and facial feminization. The facial surgeries I was most interested in getting were a tracheal shave (to remove the adams apple), jaw reduction, and a nose job.

I have done considerably more research and reflection in the 6 months since KickStartHer began, and I have decided, for the time being anyway, not to go forward with facial feminization. My reasons are two fold: First, as a feminist, I have always tried to challenge the body image issues brought about by our media-driven, harshly unrealistic standards of beauty. I feel it's important to draw a distinction between what procedures I'm undertaking for a sense of physical and spiritual completion, and which I was drawn to out of a more superficial definition of femininity. Secondly, as a singer, I don't want to risk damaging the voice I am only just now finally beginning to find for myself. Barbra Streisand would never approve of me taking a scalpel to my larynx or my schnoz.

As I have maintained throughout this process, my attitude toward all aspects of medical gender transition--hormones, surgery, hair removal, etc.--is that this is about what is right for me personally. I am not making any broad-stroke statement on the merits or morality of facial feminization for anyone else.

Aside from affirming for myself the natural beauty of my facial bone structure, this also means that my my fundraising goal for KickStartHer has been cut in half, bringing me suddenly much closer to the finish line! I went from being at only 25% of my goal to now being over 56% of the way there! And with 45 days left until the end of the campaign, I believe I can raise the additional $9,500 that I need!

Thank you as always for your encouragement and support. Please help spread the word!

Lots of love,

Shakina

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12/14/2013

by
Shakina

Hello Friends!

Videos from the debut of ONE WOMAN SHOW at Joe's Pub are up on the KickStartHer site! There is a gallery on the right of the page and clicking any image will open up a nearly-full-screen HD video! These are just the highlights. I posted songs only, but if you want to see the whole thing you can watch the entire 85 minute show HERE

I've gotten requests to do the show again in NYC, and also to bring it on tour to California. We'll see what happens in 2014! If you have any ideas for ways to raise awareness about my KickStartHer campaign, please send me a message!

Thanks, as always, for your support.

Lots of love,Shakina

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12/10/2013

by
Shakina

Last weekend's show at Joe's Pub was an incredible experience! Thank you to everyone who came out to support! There will be pictures and videos soon, I'll make sure to post them here first! Also, stay tuned for word on KickStartHer tshrts and maybe even an album!

xoxoShakina

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11/27/2013

by
Shakina

Hi Friends,

Earlier this week I sat down with Alex Berg of HuffPost Live and had an awesome conversation about what it means to be using a crowd-funding platform to raise money for my gender confimation surgery. We also talked about my upcoming one woman show and why this issue is more important than just one person's transition. Here's a link to the interview, check it out!!

xoShakina

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11/21/2013

by
Shakina

I don't usually spend a lot of time going into my backstory, but Matt Coker from the OC Weekly (my home town) did some research of his own and wrote this really beautiful article about my former life as a gay youth activist. It's funny how things come full circle.

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11/18/2013

by
Shakina

Today's article in the New York Daily News helped get the word out about KickStartHer, but it didn't show YouCaring.com in the best light. I got a thoughtful and supportive email from the CEO of YouCaring, and I just want to clarify that I am proud to be hosting this fundraising campaign on a site that stands for spreading the message of God's compassionate love, and loving ones neighbor as oneself. <3